Thursday, January 06, 2011

Here I am a Mom to 4. A Mom who also enjoys working. I am a designer. Ever since I was a littel girl I loved to draw. I used to want to be a billboard painter when I grew up. I pursued my art degree at a four year college. I landed a job right out of school and soaked up the expereince like a sponge. I also wanted a family. Met a fabulous guy who wanted the same things as I. We did it all the way you are supposed to. Got engaged, got married, moved to a more economical city, so one of us could stay home when we started our family. Bought a house, adopted a dog, and got pregnant. I worked for the better part of my oldest's baby and toddler years while my husband stayed home. You see I had a great paying job that I loved. We had our second son and for another year, I pushed through the guilt of leaving my babies. When our second turned one work changed a bit and the love was fading fast. My husband was offered fulltime. So we switched it around, my husband worked fulltime while I would freelance. I remember a colleague, also a woman, not married and had no children said to me when I quit, "I have a friend like you who thinks she can do it all also". That still burns 7 years later. you see I thought of course I can do it all, I will just work from home. And I tried, I would plan to stay up all night, and one of the boys would get sick, and want me. Or I would stay up all night and one of the boys would get sick and not be able to go to school, or the sitters (my parents and a neighbor). I worked freelance for a women who took risks and failed. On my own it was hard to have a meeting with a client. Folks would ask me if I took a phone call while in the car if I was in car pool? I never wanted to invite a client to the house because, who has time to clean for a client, let alone be a mom and a wife and work at home. So for the past 6 years, and two children more, I dabbled. I took classes, took on a client here and there. I did work for friends and family. Tried to launch a digital scrapbooking business, launched websites, designed logos, custom cards, anything graphic that I could sell on etsy.com. I just could not let it go. From this I fell into another love, Social media marketing, and it is going great. So great that I am forced to entertain childcare and it's expense to give my business and my clients the time it deserves. How do I justify the expense? Will I make enough to cover the cost of putting my 2 year old in fulltime daycare? And will I survive the self loathing. I am so ready to go back to work. The opportunity presented to me is something I can't postpone. I am excited to grow my business and possibly pull a paycheck! The risk is going to be worth it. I apologize in advance to my kids, I did really try to do it all. What happened is I did do it all, but none of it really very well. A WAHM - well there just is no such thing. You either are a working mom or a stay at home mom. I will succumb and I will work at home while my children are somewhere else.

Sunday, June 06, 2010

So I went to this lunch and learn recently about twittering, and social media marketing. It was a great event. @swaygrlput it together. It introduced me to more ins and outs of twitter and how to use social media to market my design business. I immediately became painfully aware that my old logo was not social media savvy.

Those tiny little avatars 48px x 48px made my logo look awful.

I am redesigning, so the logo will be more social media friendly. I will take the blue daisy out of the logo and use it in my avatars and favicons. Another example of a logo that is not social media friendly is Seattle's Best Coffee.

They just went through a major restyle.

They got some slack for it too. I understand why they did it though, and now see others that have already made the transition, like Dairy Queen

andDunkin Donuts

Then it hit me, here's a direction to go with my design business. I can design social media logos, avatars, twitter backgrounds, graphics for blogs and etsy.com stores. I can use social media to market myself and market for my clients as well. As I complete a new logo design or restyle I'll tweet about it, include it on my blog, pimp it on facebook. I'll start with my own, look for my logo restyle launch in the next few days.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

My oldest will be 10. So trying to think of a theme for his birthday that was not too young, was daunting.

Then Jack's birthday came and he received a rocket and some astronaut ice cream as a gift. I was inspired and talked to Sean who is starting to study the solar system, so we thought how about a space themed party?

Immediately I researched the rocket that Jack received and found the Cosmic Rocket and the ice cream were easily available online. For the party we'll keep the invite list small and those invited will build their rockets.

Then we'll sample astronaut ice cream and

we will also experiment with the mentos in a soda as demonstrated here.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I wanted to get Bunco started on my street. I am going to share the steps I took.

You have to have a bunco set, see if someone has one they are not using, or you can purchase one from here.

1). Talk it up among your circle of friends. Get a reading on who might be interested in playing. I used facebook to reach out to folks on my street, and got a very good initial response.

2). Pick a date to have an introduction to Bunco party, and invite folks. I'll use facebook and email as well as traditional invitations for those that are not on facebook. This is where those that are interested can come, learn how to play, learn about the time commitment involved and we can decide if it will be just snacks and dessert, or a full dinner, a BYOB, and what prizes we'll have and then determine what day of the week, and what week of the month you will play. Then folks can exchange contact information, and using a master calendar, pick a month to host.

3). Play a round or two so those new to the game will get a chance to play, and a refresher to those who have played before. Many folks play differently so this is a good time to decide how your Bunco group will play.

4). Have name tags.

5). Get excited for the first game. I have met folks who have played for 15 years plus.

How many of you have played Bunco before? and for how long have you played?

Friday, January 08, 2010

So I was one of the Kris Allen over Lambert folks on American Idol. I really thought that Kris could sing well, and looked forward to his take on each song each week. My favorite was his cover of Kanye's Heartless.Then Kris Allen's album came out and his first release is Live like we're dying.

Am I the only one noticing a trend? Live like we're dying, Nickelback's got a song out, Never gonna be alone, and other's have lyrics about living in the moment.I agree that it's important to tell those you love that you love them, and tell them often.I also think that we must also "save our pennies for a rainy day". Teach our children to save for things that they want, pay cash, look towards the future, more than just looking forward to the next holiday or birthday. You never know what's going to happen, you may die today so live life with no regret, but you may live till 100. You can't rely on someone else to be there to help so do things now that will take care of you later.

Encourage your children to spend some of that birthday money, but save some also.We use ING for the children and once a year with money we have saved here and there for them we buy relevant stock. Sean's is Home Depot, Jack's is Hershey. ING had a program called Sharebuilder, you can set up an automatic investment each month to purchase stock you've selected from over 7000 companies. Right now they are having a promotion $40.00 to start investing. Visit ING.com now to learn more. It's nice to have something tangible for the children to see. you can get a certificate of the stock at oneshare.com to frame.

Never pay the difference needed when your child is so close to saving enough to get that item they must have. Encourage them to save, do chores so they will know that reward of saving and working hard to earn something that they wanted.

Also, always kiss them good bye, and never go to bed angry with them. Make sure that they know that you love them. Foster relationships with family near and far. Also, if they have a good friend, encourage them to develop that. Everyone needs at least one good friend.

Most important, live what you teach. Save for that rainy day, live without regret, stay close to family, and don't lose touch with close friends. If you live to 100 you'll have friends and family to celebrate it with, and enough saved to throw the party yourself.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Having fun with my flip camera. A must have for Mom's, capture those quick to pass moments, and other staged moments with one hand! In this instance I was holding my 15 month old! Software allows for ease of sharing via multiple social networks! price is good.... Craig and his friends.